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Speech Transcript

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L. Scott Ferguson: [00:00:00] To shine today. Podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. And I got my guy, Richard Walsh from sharpen the spear coaching. This guy is no joke. Kind of a, kind of a bad ass black belt ex Marine. But also the most relatable, nice guy that you’ll ever meet and chock full of knowledge nuggets that I have three pages of notes just that I took in the, I don’t know, it was 29 minutes that we actually spoke actually spoke to him a lot more off Mike because he’s so blessed I was so blessed to have him drop some serious knowledge nuggets on me to level up my business my life.

And I know that he can too. So if anybody that’s really looking to make that leap or bridge that performance gap, then share this with them. Or if you don’t mind hitting like, or even subscribe. My sponsors and affiliates absolutely love that. So without further ado, here’s my really good friend, Richard Walsh.

Let’s level up.

Time to shine today, podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. And I’m actually late getting to the mic because me and my guy here, we’ve [00:01:00] actually say, we were brothers from other mothers, Richard Walsh, somebody that I immensely respect, who’s the CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching. And we were just talking and talking about, , war stories, man, man stories and whatnot.

It was just, I just resonate so well with my friend, Richard, who’s a 30 year seasoned entrepreneur. He’s the best selling author, Wait for a book giveaway at the end of escape. The owner prison, the contractor’s new way to scale, regain control and fast track growth while loving life, a speaker and podcast host.

He’s a husband and a father of six children, a U S Marine who robbed champion boxer, black belt in an internationally recognized steel sculptor. So you don’t want to probably be in a dark alley and try this guy. So just, just trust me on that. His expertise lies in combining both the strategic and the tactical.

He’s able to deliver immediate problem solving results. The tactical side, along with strategic long term implementation of systemization and scalability with over 30 years of business himself. Richard has embraced time, time compression, sharing the secrets and strategies that bring [00:02:00] rapid and lasting results that accompanies he works with Richard.

Thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the time to shine today. Podcast varsity squad. But first. What’s your favorite color and why

Richard Walsh: blue blue. Yeah. Gotcha. Because it is,

L. Scott Ferguson: I was thinking you’re going to say like purple because I know that blue is really, that’s, that’s

Richard Walsh: royalty purple royalty.

Like, and I’m Richard King Richard. I, I get it works, but, but purple’s not it,

L. Scott Ferguson: but there’s red and purple. And I know that if you try you bro, you got that red side that comes out. So it’s like a

Richard Walsh: mix. I do my man. I’m very complex.

L. Scott Ferguson: Let’s get this. I know you’re a fellow veteran. This is awesome, man. Thanks for your service.

And like let’s get to kind of the roots of how you are a super highly sought after, , performance coach and on different fronts, not just, , physical, mental, , spiritual even, , but let’s get to the roots, my friend.

Richard Walsh: How far back you want to go, Rut, Rut? We go back to the seed or you want to start?

Oh man, trust me,

L. Scott Ferguson: maybe we’ll [00:03:00] do like a joint, like long form version of us, , where we tell our stories, but let’s kind of move through. I mean, you get out of the Marine Corps and kind of roll from there.

Richard Walsh: Perfect. So get out of the Marine Corps quick part of that. Like you got to work, right? Got to get a job, got to make money, all that, have a place to live.

So I started swinging a pickaxe, digging trench for a cable company for 5 an hour all day long in Tucson, Arizona, in the nice heat and Two inches at a time through Caliche. If you haven’t ever dug through that, that’s a joy. And I’m like, wow, that’s kind of, this is, I might have to go back in the Marine Corps if this is my future.

So, but I’m, , trying to make my way. I’m a doorman at a bar at night and stuff too. But someone offered me a side gig, Scott. And he said, Hey, , down there, they have granite instead of grass and stuff like crushed granite and all that. So they like three quarters kind of like, Hey, I need this moved to my backyard and spread.

It’s only 35 tons worth. And can you do it? I said, I can do it. I swing a pickaxe all day. So I spent my, honestly, it was my last 85 bucks before payday. And I bought a wheelbarrow and a shovel and I knocked it out in like 10 hours [00:04:00] on a Saturday. Here’s the best part. The guy came out and he put a thousand bucks in my hand.

Wow. And I went, dang, I’m like doing this yesterday for 50 bucks. Yeah. And that was my sign to become an entrepreneur. I’m like, I know my future. I am going to work for myself. Yeah. I’m going to get all the money. And that’s when it, so I, I started a landscape business, turned to a custom water feature business.

So I really itched and I became one of the best in the country at that built some amazing things started to add steel sculpture to it. Just cause I wanted to, it was kind of like why I like blue cause I do. And I created world class exhibits and did, , came in and actually recognized it was really cool.

And then yeah, I was killing it. And then 0 hit. And like everybody who all suffered in one way or another, I got to suffer like I got my ass kicked, dude. Well, I did too. I lost everything. So I had, we got to,

L. Scott Ferguson: we got to meet for a bet when I get out there, brother.

Richard Walsh: So, yeah, I [00:05:00] lost everything. So I had six children, my wife and six children, all under four years old.

Okay. Not my wife wasn’t under, , eight, like it’s in a way. Yeah. So I had that and it’s like, and things are just crumbling. Right. On November 5th of 2008, I lost a half a million on that day. And it just kept going off the cliff and I closed inching through a nine. I’m like, yeah, this probably isn’t going to happen.

And I kind of had the thing. I rushed the clothes, like it was going to collapse anyways, but I had an epiphany. One morning, Scott was like, I was thinking about my kids. I work all the time. I’m all about business. I’m number one. Again, I know everything from, , mayor of Chicago. I’m on fountain task force committees.

I’m doing all the schools. I’ve got all the awards and everything. And, and I’m thinking, man, what? My kids like, don’t care what I do. They don’t care how many trucks I have. They don’t care really what kind of house we live in. Right. They just wanted me to be around. So I came home late. They run, they attacked me.

And one time I, my one son was chasing me down the driveway. I’m leaving in my truck and he’s crying, chasing me down. And he looked in the rear view mirror like, What am I doing? , like, like, it’s [00:06:00] just, I’m like, , this isn’t worth it. So I’m like, what, if I continue down this path, Scott, all I’m going to do, I’m going to ruin my children’s futures.

I’m going to ruin their marriages, their relationships. They might be focused and good on business, but everything else in their life is going to go in the crapper. Thank you. And I’m like, I’m not going to do that. So I walked in that day. And to my office manager, like we’re shutting down today, went to my crew had been with me for over 10 years.

Best guys ever, like family guys, we got, we got to shut this down. I’m not going to do this. I sold everything. What little I had got rid of that had to relocate, lost my house. Okay. Well, like so many other people then had to relocate and start over. And I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I was going to do what I was doing.

I’m, and I haven’t done a water feature since I haven’t, I sold my welding equipment. I haven’t done any sculptures. I’m a very all or nothing guy. Much to the dismay of my wife, because, , maybe we could have kept, , some of that stuff and she might have been right, but I don’t operate that way.

So I’d rather be, , burn the ships and that kind of attitude. So had to [00:07:00] reinvent myself. And I did that sort of training people because I’m a fitness trainer as well, boxer and everything else. I started working for Anytime Fitness. Okay. So they’re everywhere. I’m training. I started the program there.

They had some subs that were doing stuff and I built this thing and next, , I’m trainer of the year for anything, , like, well, what that means, Scott. I should open my own gym. Of course. So I opened bootcamp style training, did a really cool, created the whole belt system phase progressions.

Really cool. That’s doing that, scaling that, but doing it right this time. So I could go home when I wanted to go home and other people worked for me and did that. Then I got into contracting. So I did roofing, siding windows. , I did all that scale that did great with that. Love that. And then at the same time, people were asking me.

Well, how’d you go from nothing from being on the top to nothing and coming back? And so I did this this so I kind of slid into the mentor position. Okay, which is great. Just helping people. I like that I’m just helping people get , do better at their business, but I’m also an entrepreneur So what does [00:08:00] that mean?

I have to go from mentor to coach because mentors are free Right. And coaches get paid. Yes. Okay. So I’m going to do this and get paid, , cause cause value and everything else I did that sort of roll on that. And I said, Hey, I’ll write a book. I should write a book about my story and why all these guys, I see all these businesses, I saw these patterns repeated every single business, anyone from like one to 10 million, especially one to three, one to 5 million range, especially in service and trades, all doing the same wrong things.

Right. So I said, let’s write a book. So I weave my story in there, the collapse, everything else. And then how to fix all this, how to actually run your business, how to escape the owner prison. And the owner prison is this Scott, you start a business and I have not figured out how not to do this, but you have to work very hard for like the first two years, you’re wearing a lot of hats, doing a lot of the work yourself, closing deals, doing everything right.

That’s good. The problem is. Next thing , 10 years has gone by and you’ve repeated the first two, five times. And that’s why you’re not scaling that you’re making money, [00:09:00] but you’re not making money.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Richard Walsh: You’re not in the dream house. You’re not taking three weeks off going on vacation with the family.

You don’t do it. Matter of fact, you can’t leave at all.

L. Scott Ferguson: You don’t want a job. Right. You, you go on

Richard Walsh: vacation and you’re calling in the office every day, or they’re calling you, right? It’s that kind of stuff. So I’m like, that’s going to be the mission. I’m going to fix that for people. So they don’t ruin their families, right?

They don’t have broken marriages. They don’t have a business. That’s just getting by that. They cannot sell. Right. All they have is a pile of depreciating assets. They’re going to get 20 cents on the dollar. So that was the mission of escape the owner prison. I started a little Academy around that. The top Academy did a podcast at a hundred plus people on there, really great guests and and just kept rolling and winning the sharpen the spear, did a bunch of the coaching and and then finally, finally, I got on your podcast, Scott.

L. Scott Ferguson: It took a minute for me to get you because it took for a while. Hey, so then I love the story, man. And the path that you walked and you when you [00:10:00] failed, you failed forward. What I’m saying? You kept on going. You picked it up. Did you have. , like a consultant or a coach or somebody that was kind of there for you along the way, or did you kind of figure it out?

Richard Walsh: No, I was, I was pretty anti help. Okay. I mean, that was part of my demise. I had a lot of ego, a lot of pride that first 20 years. Yeah. And I just, I’m a Marine. I just dipped the shoulder. It was twice as hard, took twice as long, but I did it. Right. But then I didn’t do it. I had, I had a multi billionaire client like giving me advice, but what does he know?

He doesn’t build water features.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Yeah,

Richard Walsh: all the stuff he said was right. I’m just all my, all my great advisors. I just wouldn’t take their advice. I just thought everything, absolute idiocy, ,

L. Scott Ferguson: I had so much paper underwritten by Bear Stearns in oh eight. And then I was at lifetime fitness looking at the, the, the screen, , above the exercise bikes, I’m like bears filing, I’m like, And I called Rachel, my assistant.

And I said, Hey, how many deals we got at 18? I mean, I lost everything within those two years as well. , I was closing [00:11:00] 15, 20 million a year and, , real estate in Detroit, , went down to nothing. So it kind of the same thing. I was weird for me as I actually accepted help when that, when that happened.

But before I was printing money, I knew everything. I was like, brother. Yeah. In the real estate market to go up and all these advisors, they actually gave me my start. We’re like, watch your money. It’s like, , they basically Gordon Gecko with me. They’re like, listen, man, money is like a jealous girlfriend.

You don’t pay attention to it. She’ll leave your ass in, but watch it. Not from a way of I’m in love with money, but dude, you need money to live, bro. Right.

Richard Walsh: You can’t help anyone if you’re broke.

L. Scott Ferguson: So if someone comes to you, if anyone was to say to you, like, Because I have kids at high school, I speak to pro bono and they’re like, should we go to college?

And I’m like, yeah, I think you should just for the connection that you can have with people. Right. Well, you didn’t cause you went in the military. Yeah. But I have a brotherhood that I can make phone calls to the guys I served with and they handle it. So I’m like, , if you’re not an entrepreneur, if you don’t have that mindset, get your ass in college and make [00:12:00] connections.

Right. So with you, the reason why I’m asking, as you coded the question, if someone would say, you didn’t have a coach, right. Why should I hire you?

Richard Walsh: Well, like I tell my kids that first 20 years, don’t do what I did do now. And I coached them through it. And they’ve all had coaches growing up, sports, anything they do tutors.

Yeah. , I brought in the tutor and my son had to do the as yet because we homeschool, right? We homeschool those kids all the way through. So they don’t do standardized testing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Richard Walsh: So the as yet was difficult for him. Okay. So the recruiter’s like, well, okay, well, it’s pretty low. , I go, well, I’ll handle it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Richard Walsh: He went from, I kid you not, a 16 on the practice test. Oh yeah. Four weeks later, five weeks later, brought in the tutor, worked him 89. Nice. Okay. Just cause he doesn’t test that way. That’s not how we train our kids. Right? So it’s nothing we can’t overcome. But again, the coaches, my daughter, get her private lessons with a [00:13:00] volleyball coach.

You want to be good? I guess you’re good. I keep coaching. I coached my, my son, took him to the junior Olympics, coached him, trained him every day before he went in basic for the Marine Corps. Three a days for seven months straight. Wow. I ran them through, , so like they know what coaching is. They understand that the outside eyes and and that’s what I tell people, , and now I can say, well, talk to my clients.

They’ll tell you why.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. Right. Look at this, ? Yeah. So what, what do you feel then makes a great coach then Richard?

Richard Walsh: I’ll tell you, I really think, and again, obviously it’s a biased view here, I am solely focused on results. Okay. Now that might sound obvious to people like this, whatever, I guess, but they don’t because, and I’ve nailed down, there’s two, two different things.

There’s teachers and there’s trainers. Teachers are going to talk and they might have cool modules and they’ll talk about all this stuff, but, but then they’re going to leave the classroom and you got to go home and do your work. And then if you do, you [00:14:00] don’t, they don’t really care.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Richard Walsh: Okay. I’m a trainer.

So if, if the teacher tells you to do 25 pushups, he’s going to leave the room and expect you to do 25 pushups. Right. I’m going to say we’re going to do 25 push ups, get on your face. I’m going to get on my face, start banging them out. You are going to do more than me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Richard Walsh: And I’m going to make sure the form’s right.

You’re going all the way. You’re going to get it done and you’re going to get 25. Love it. I’ll be there and I’m a high five. And there we go. That’s my approach. That’s why I do the tactical and the strategic. Okay. I love the fires that flare up in business and most business coaches. And I’m being very general here, obviously.

Yeah. Yeah. They don’t have the experience because a lot of them haven’t even run a business or built a business, but they can’t put out fires, like Scott, I can see you could bring 30 people on. I will sit here and I’ll solve every problem,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Richard Walsh: They can fire it at me and I’ll just spend, and I’ll love it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah. That’s

Richard Walsh: I just, it’s just a gift,

L. Scott Ferguson: right.

Richard Walsh: , and I love doing that stuff. So I think that’s the difference because I’m so like hands on. One of the things doing a coaching program, we have, what the [00:15:00] boxer app is. It’s a walkie talkie app.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. I live in hurricane central, dude.

We have it on our phones, right? So

Richard Walsh: I use out my clients so they can reach out every day to me. Now these are recorded message. I respond same day. We don’t wait till next week to talk about a problem you had last Tuesday, this Wednesday, like we move at the speed of business, right? Right. So I could in 30 seconds, I can answer their call.

I’m done.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Richard Walsh: I don’t have to dial them. I just chirp chirp. I was like, yeah, no, no, you’re not going to do that. You’re going to do this, this, and this. Okay. Right. Get that done. Goodbye. Right. Okay. That’s, that’s how we build our coaching program.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome. So

Richard Walsh: that there’s

L. Scott Ferguson: that

Richard Walsh: kind of

L. Scott Ferguson: connection. And there’s a connection in there and I’m hearing a coach.

Not consultant. , I believe that everybody knows what they want. They just don’t know how to talk themselves into it. Right? That’s where that coach really comes in. And I sit every single one of my clients. I’m blessed to have in Jupiter, Florida in the driver’s seat of their car and I hop in the passenger seat.

And I’m like, listen, this, this rear view mirror is small for a reason, right? That’s your history. It’s a great place to learn from. , and visit every once in a while, but we’re not going there. [00:16:00] This big windshield, super scary. What the hell, where are we going? Since 2011, they put this thing on the console called the GPS.

That’s where I am, but we’re not getting anywhere to, , where you want to go and I can’t buckle your seatbelt if you want to, and I can’t hit start. I can’t put it in drive. You got to do it. Then, , from the coaching standpoint, because a lot of people become consultants and start telling, I’ve tried to do that before.

And people are like, forget, try that. You suck. What I’m saying? So. That’s awesome. I love the accountability that you hold to your to your clients, man. That’s awesome so let’s say you’re in kind of a Like a discovery session with someone to make sure you’re the right horse for the course They’re the right client that you that you want to work with Is there any secret sauce that you might have?

If you don’t mind sharing that kind of helps them, I helps you and them identify the initial blind spot that you’re going to be working with.

Richard Walsh: Yeah. So I’m pretty blunt. Love it. I just asked, what’s your biggest challenge right now? Tell me your biggest challenge right now. And they’ll tell me and I’ll tell them how to fix [00:17:00] it.

Okay. So like I start there now. Okay. That’s all good. Then we go through some more discovery, right? We talk and everything else, because there has to be a fit. Right. I mean, personalities are personalities. And if you’re not, I’ve fired my share of clients. I’ve been fired. , it’s how it is. It is bad.

It’s just, and that’s okay. And if you don’t, you’re, it’s the old saying, you’re not trying hard enough. Right. Right. I’m not all things to all people. I have a niche. But I also have a full assessment, all 12 areas of their business. So when they start. It’s like 160 questions and shows exactly where their entire business is right now.

Right. There’s three, four different score levels. Right. And I tell them, don’t be bummed out when you score low. Right. We’re going to fix it. That’s what creates the roadmap. You were just talking about with the GPS that now gives us a place to go.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Richard Walsh: So now we build that then every quarter they retake it.

Now there’s a percentage of completion answer. Are you 25, 50, 75, a hundred percent. And now they can track their progress. We’re going to retake this as we systemize their business and get all these other things in order. So a lot of [00:18:00] accountability, right? Like we were talking about a lot of training, a lot of, I want to see you’ve made it, , come, come with stuff done.

You talk to me in a week that that’s really where it’s at. So that discovery call is really a setup for what’s your challenge. Right. I can fix that in one way or another. Right. Whether I completely do it right then, but show them that possibility, go through the other stuff and make sure that we really are gelling and like, they’re ready to do the work.

Right. I said, I’m here for you. Right. Like if you go to the gym, you have a personal trainer. He’s not doing the pushups for you.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Yeah. Okay. You’re doing the pull ups. I’ll

Richard Walsh: hold your feet, but you’re doing the pull up. What I mean? Like that’s, that’s all good. So I make that very clear. And we, we do actually, we have a pretty warrior mindset.

I mean, it is sharpen the spirit coach, honing entrepreneurial warriors on the battlefield of business. So you’ll see a lot of that repeated and there’s really, it’s just a mindset I have, and I think it’s served me really well, my Marine Corps mindset as well in business there’s kind of, it’s, it’s not the no failure thing.

It’s like, it’s achieving the objective no matter what. [00:19:00]

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. It’s a shifting when you need to shift, man, , that’s right. So let’s say we’re maybe still in this discovery conversation a little bit, man. Your curiosity grenade has been thrown. You’re, you’re figuring some stuff out. Is there any good question that you wish they would ask you, but never do?

Richard Walsh: Oh, let me think on that. Never do. , I think I actually like it like, because a lot of them want like a timeframe. Okay. And I can give a times the 12 month program, right? And we’ll have you there if you do the work, right? Right. It’s always dependent on the client. That’s one thing that they don’t get.

But something they’ve asked me that, that I wish they would, that they don’t ask. Oh yeah. It’s like, and then, and then what? That’s the question I want. And then what? So we do this 12 month, I get there. Then what I go, Oh, I got you covered. God, now we go into growth and projection. We, we have a whole nother level.

You go up, , so, so yeah, we have a place to go. Like, cause a lot, all my clients don’t leave. I don’t, [00:20:00] I’m not gonna say I don’t get it. I love it, but they really like keep going for a year. And it’s just, and, and there is a time when you have to go to a new coach. Right. There’s things I don’t do everything, but.

Wow. It’s so flattering when guys just do the next thing, next thing. And we just, again, we keep delivering results because they have focus. So they stay. So, yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that because I would have like these endings where like we get to a part and like, I used to say a lot of times, my job is to get you to fire me kind of thing, like, cause we’re get you there.

But. I would have these things popping up that, man, I could take them to another level and hence leveling up. And now it’s like you, I have clients two, three years sometimes, right. Versus it was like a 12 week program and they stay because they’re like, okay, what’s next. Right. So I love that. That’s a great thing.

You hear that squad, like get out there and like, know that you’re going to have stops, , but what, what’s next. And we get rid of the coach and hopefully it’s my good friend, Richard [00:21:00] here. Richard, if you’ve seen the movie. Back to the future.

Richard Walsh: Yes.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Let’s get that glory with Marty McFly, buddy.

Let’s, let’s go back to the double deuce, a 22 year old Richard. Okay. What kind of knowledge nuggets? I don’t want you to change anything. Okay. Because what’s happening is made you, but what kind of knowledge nuggets might you drop on him to maybe help him shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe just a little bit quicker.

Richard Walsh: Mind someone who’s been there. And attach yourself to them

L. Scott Ferguson: that, yeah, that’s

Richard Walsh: it. Cause I wouldn’t all me, man. It was me and my pickaxe, me and my shovel and my wheelbarrow. It’s just, we’re taking out. I will, it’s just, yeah, you got to put the ego in a box.

L. Scott Ferguson: I

Richard Walsh: mean, it can’t. And I didn’t, I mean, it’s ego and pride and all that just runs it.

There’s a great sale. I learned some from very, very good friends, my real successful entrepreneurs. And it’s ambition is great in the passenger seat. It makes a terrible driver though. [00:22:00] If ambition is in the driver’s seat, you’re going to have a problem because it’ll just keep going, right? That’s where you lose your balance.

You drive way too hard. You start stepping on people, crushing things, anything to get the achievement. Right. So you’ve got to learn to put that in the passenger seat. But you’re still driving

L. Scott Ferguson: love that so that’s like keep the ego when you need it But don’t be that douchebag most of the time because yeah, that’s the thing is, I’ve learned that that the more and become that mentor because I really believe in the plus equals minus right?

Where every day I still do it to this day at 52 years old where like I find some of that I want to emulate Right? And learn from them. That’s your plus. The equals is what we’re doing. We’re rapping about businesses and picking up ideas. I pick up awesome ideas right now that I’m going to implement, right?

And the minus is sending the elevator down, right? Somebody else to get their ass up. Because the more you mentor, the more immortal you become. Right. It’s just the truth, , like I’m probably not going to have a street named after me, but, , or something like that, but there’s [00:23:00] things that I’m going to drop on people that were dropped on me, , my name of my book that’s coming out is regurgitate because I regurgitate everything that I’ve learned from everybody else.

Right. And they did too. Tony Robbins. Yeah. No, nothing

Richard Walsh: new, nothing new under the sun. Yeah, exactly. Jim Solomon.

L. Scott Ferguson: Exactly, dude. Yeah. That’s why I’m in Proverbs. Ecclesiastes. Yeah.

Richard Walsh: Read Ecclesiastes. You’ll see that, .

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. It’ll give you the reality. Absolutely. So, how do you want your dash remembered?

, that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date. Your life date and death date. Hopefully, it’s way down the line, brother. But, how do you want your dash remembered?

Richard Walsh: Really, for me, the legacy I want to create is primarily with my family. Yeah. , I want them to know I’m a God fearing man.

And, my children, like, Learned from me, continued what, what they saw because more is caught than taught, right? So the things that I did, I want to, I want them to know I lived the life. I was always who I am. I’m never someone else. [00:24:00] And that legacy I want to live on in them and their children, everything else.

Cause that’s, that’s how you affect things, right? And that’s how you make change. So I think that’s, to me, because I really what Scott, one of the biggest joys is raising my children. Sure. All the business success, everything else. I know people hear this and I’m like, it really isn’t anything. Okay. Like it’s great.

It’s a thing to do. It’s kind of a scorecard. But when you, I mean, I have six kids all within like four years of each other, like I’m raising a gang. Okay. Yeah. I’m like raising gang wall squad and it’s all different and, and, and unique and we’re homeschooling them the whole time. And you got all these elements to that.

I poured a lot into them, , so it took a, it took, I pour a lot into these kids, , and it doesn’t mean they’re perfect by any stretch of imagination, but they’re gonna all do great things in their own way.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome. Yeah.

Richard Walsh: Yeah. So

L. Scott Ferguson: what do you think people misunderstand the most about you?

Richard Walsh: So do you think, [00:25:00] looking at me, I’m an artist.

L. Scott Ferguson: What, my younger days, I’d be like, you couldn’t draw a stick figure. But like, , as we get more mature, you get curious and I can see it. But , if I was, if I was just a layman dude out there, we like, no way. Okay.

Richard Walsh: Yeah. It’s like, it’s, it’s like the intro, right?

Like you read my bio.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Right. ,

Richard Walsh: bestselling author and this and steel sculptor and boxer and blah, blah. All these things. People don’t, people love to put you in one thing. So, and it, and it’s in business, it’s a difficulty when you’re trying to market. Cause they can only like, they can’t believe, cause most people haven’t done anything with their life.

And I’m just being honest. So they can’t imagine you doing five incredible things, right? Cause they never would, , now give an example real quick, Travis Rosbach, he developed, he started hydro flask.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Richard Walsh: Okay. So I get on my podcast and I’m talking to him and this dude was a, 50 ton Marin [00:26:00] Marine like captain, like, ships.

He’s an international, pilot, right? Jets is that he’s a scuba instructor, started a hydroflask built to the hundreds of millions, sold out, like you go through a guy and he was like 50 or 40. I’m like, dang, dude, that’s like, I mean, that’s like four lives maritime captain. A maritime captain, you’re sailing, you’re, you’re a rough life,

L. Scott Ferguson: man.

Yeah. But

Richard Walsh: then, then flying jets all over the world, , land, everyone, all that stuff in, then the certified scuba instructor, then create Hydroflask, which is now over a billion dollar company. Wow. Okay. That’s a dude before you’re 50.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right,

Richard Walsh: like trying to wrap your head around that. Yes.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah,

Richard Walsh: , like you look at myself.

I’m like, man, I’m a slacker,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? Yeah It turns on your intention button like to really be intentional about stuff because obviously he was provide a service. That’s awesome So what is? Richard’s definition of a life well lived

Richard Walsh: Wow. I think I’ll go back to what I just said too, [00:27:00] that people respect me because I, I have beliefs, I hold my beliefs.

I don’t sway, I don’t compromise.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Richard Walsh: You know exactly where you stand with me at all times.

L. Scott Ferguson: Transparent baby and open nice man. And, and for ev everyone just imagine if everyone would do that and respect it. Just imagine, dude, we were talking off mic about the turmoil of stuff that’s going on. Just imagine.

Right. You and I did the deed so we can live somewhere where we can have different this is right. So that’d be awesome. Time to shine today.

Podcast versus squad. We are back and Richard, when I get up there this fall, we’re definitely going to meet up maybe for a brain grenade or a tea or a whatever. Right. And probably talk about a few of these, , questions, At length, but today you have five seconds with no explanations and they can all be answered that way.

I promise you ready to level up.

Richard Walsh: I’m ready.

L. Scott Ferguson: All right, here we go, Richard. What is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Richard Walsh: Get help. [00:28:00]

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Richard Walsh: 4 a. m. rise every day,

L. Scott Ferguson: seven days a week. Yes. So if you see me walking down the street, you’re like, man, Fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums. Right. , like other than escape the power, the owner prison, what book might you hand me to level me up?

Richard Walsh: I would give you Grit by Angela Duckworth.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Any commonly used emojis when you text?

Richard Walsh: Yeah, probably the, probably the, the bicep crunch flame and a flame. Like, got it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Nicknames growing up. Rick, Rick. All right. I go with our, I go with our dub, Richard Walsh. I love it. Anyways. Any hidden talent and or superpowers that you have that nobody really knows about until now?

Richard Walsh: My, what I call my spiritual gift is discernment. Nice. It served me really, really

L. Scott Ferguson: well. Excellent. Chess checkers and monopoly. Yes. [00:29:00] Nice. Go to ice cream flavor.

Richard Walsh: Oh, man. Um, go pralines and cream.

L. Scott Ferguson: Nice. There’s a sandwich called the Rdub. I gave you a nickname. The Rdub. Build that sandwich for me.

Richard Walsh: Let’s go.

We’re going to go. We’re going to go turkey. We’re going to go salami. We’re going to do a thin sliced ham. We’re going to do some Giardiniera on there, a little oil, a little, little salt and pepper, right? Light lettuce and a layer of tomatoes. Give me a little mayo and a shot of mustard and we’re snarfing.

L. Scott Ferguson: How do we crush that? I just like man candy on everything. Bacon, bacon, I’d throw bacon on there too. So favorite charity and organization you’d like to give your time and or money to?

Richard Walsh: We have one locally, it’s called Beloit Cares, my town is Beloit, and we created that charity. We help other organizations in the town, so we don’t give them money all the time.

We give [00:30:00] them what they need. So a woman’s shelter, they need shampoo, they need toilet paper, they need this. We load it up. That’s awesome. That saves them a ton of money. Hell yeah. Important stuff.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you for doing that, brother. Last question. You can elaborate on this one. What’s the best decade of music, 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s?

Richard Walsh: We’re talking 1800s like Beethoven and no, no. Okay. Oh, I gotta, I gotta be

L. Scott Ferguson: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s.

Richard Walsh: Oh, man, that’s hard. That’s hard. Cause I have a very odd. I’m going to go with kind of a crossover 70 in the eighties right there. And we’re just like a Palmer and Palmer. Oh yeah. That, that, that, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

I’m saying that’s them over

L. Scott Ferguson: broken heart. Yeah. I got you, brother. Yeah. That’s I’m the same way. It’s because the eighties about, yeah, the eighties, like I graduated 1990, right? So the eighties was like that decade of decadence and so much stuff happened in there. [00:31:00] And I go to the 70s for stories to like listen to stories, I’m saying everything you can understand what they were saying, , and everything else and just legends.

So that’s awesome. So Richard how can we find you brother

Richard Walsh: sharpen the spirit coaching. com?

L. Scott Ferguson: Excellent. And I know that we are going to get to a Book here. Tell us a little bit about the book you authored. I believe it was, I think, 2019 or 20, right? Correct. When it dropped. 2019, yep. Okay. So,

Richard Walsh: Escape the Owner Person, Contracts New at a Scale, Regain Control, Add Fast Track Growth While Loving Life.

Hardest part of the book was the title and the subtitle. Writing a book, piece of cake. So, if you’re ever going to do that, Standby for the title. Okay. I had 27 options for a title and I had to go with the 28th. So it’s got it. It really is. We’re woven with my story. Plus how to, how to, how to get out of that trap where you’re caught in two years.

You keep repeating the first two years of your business, you’re, you’re not able to scale and grow. This shows you how it’s also a lot of fundamentals, [00:32:00] especially in the service and trades industry that really shows you what you’re missing and why you’re not able to charge what you charge and really do well and scale and serve the people you truly want to serve.

That book’s going to help you do that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Excellent. And the, so is it kind of, I believe you said earlier, somewhat autobiographical, right?

Richard Walsh: Yeah, my story is woven in there. So you hear stories with clients and me and the family and how you had to deal with, we all deal with a special clients, right? So, and it goes, it’s three phases.

It goes zero to a million, a million to 5, 000, 005, 000 to 10 million. That’s the scaling progress, right? So that’s what you’re kind of learning.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. I believe that You said like, okay, put it this way. What we’ll do squad is I’m going to do a two book giveaway for the first person that are the first two people that put prison break, prison break into I don’t care if it’s Pinterest.

I don’t care if you’d text it to five, six, one, four, four. 03830 just let us just put prison break in there and we’ll know and we will [00:33:00] get to time to shine. Today’s time. We’ll get to a copy each of escape the owner prison again. It’s prison break. Put that in there. And I believe if the 1st person, the 1st 2 people that put in, we’ll just say our dub our dash D.

U. B. again to any platform that my good friend Richard might think about giving you a audio version of his book. Is that right, Richard?

Richard Walsh: That’s right.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome, man. That’s, that’s, that’s huge, man. I really, really appreciate that. So, Richard, do me one last solid and give it, leave me with us, the squad with one last knowledge that I get, we can take with us and internalize and take action on.

Richard Walsh: I’m gonna give you a quote that most people don’t know. And it’s a great, it’s a great one. Okay, ready? Yeah. Dedication to a goal that never waivers resolution. This is a basic principle in the life of every truly great character. He who resolves upon any grading good end has that by that very resolution, clothe themself in [00:34:00] power and his scale, the chief barrier to it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Basically be dedicated to a goal that never waivers. Even if it’s a variance. Yeah. Perseverance. Inch by inch. It’s a cinch by the yard. It’s hard, right? So they inch by inch. Yeah. Just stay in it. Stay in it. You gotta

Richard Walsh: stay in it, man. It’s, it’s. The other side is awesome. Yeah. And it’s not easy to get there.

, there’s a lot of people there. Yeah. As they say, many starters, few finishers, right? I am all about finishing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. They love it. And squad, we just had a fun kick ass conversation with a good friend, Richard Walsh, I mean, the pickaxe guy that was out there and he saw opportunity and went after it.

And what I’m hearing a lot in this is. , Richard really wants himself and others to live a life of options and not obligations, right? It’s like everybody’s obligated to do stuff But if you can get if we can get you with with my good friend Richard here I’m sure that he’ll be letting you lean into your options like like Cortez did like burn those ships So like really push forward but have that mentor [00:35:00] again.

The more you mentor the more And also you need a coach like I have four coaches, but people know that I put all of my, , 96, 000 a year. I pay out on coaches. I put it all online on my website. You need a coach. Don’t do it like myself and Richard did and try to do it alone for parts of your life because that learning curve is very much shortened when you bring a guy like Richard on.

Okay, like, you need a coach. , like a lot of people, we’re kind of develop our own owner prison. We keep repeating the same steps, Richard, he kind of reminded us, , and we need to start really a piling on the appreciating assets and then working from those and making them better. , coaches should be focused on results, , and the person and holding that person accountable.

And someone like Richard’s really gonna he’s a good listener. I can see he listens with what I call listening with your neck. , he’s really leans in on you. He wants that because you will know exactly how he’s going to hold you accountable, right? And then if you’re working with a coach, Ask him and then what?

We’re going to, you’re, you’re going to [00:36:00] buy into this program. You’re going to get to a certain part and then what? And that good coach is going to have that mapped out for you and going, but you got to put the reps in and get working. And he reminded us that ambition is great in the passenger seat and the driver’s seat that out of the egos there, you’re going to crash the fricking car.

So like check your ego at the door, , get out there, listen to people. I mean, my good friend, Richard here, he’s planting trees. He’s never going to sit in the shade of right. He does stuff for the intention. And the reason why I said that about his planting the trees is because he’s doing it with his family.

, hopefully God willing, they all outlive him, but he’s planting those trees and those trees are going to plant more trees and more trees. And he does this for the intention, not the attention. I don’t see him out there blasting. Look at me, blah, blah, blah. It’s like he really gets in to each one of his clients.

And also lastly, dedication, have, be dedicated to the goal that never wavers. Get the help when needed, but don’t waver for a persistent inch by inch. It’s a cinch. All right. By the yard, it’s hard. Let’s get after it [00:37:00] squad. Thank you so much coming on. Richard, you level up your health. You level up your wealth, your handsome devil.

You’ve earned your varsity squad hat letter here at time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on brother. I can’t wait to meet you and maybe even collaborate a little something down the line, bro.

Richard Walsh: I’m all for it, Scott. Thanks for having me, man. This has been an honor. I really appreciate it.

L. Scott Ferguson: You bet my friend chat soon.

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